Ch. 5 - Person Focused Pay

Many of the companies known to be using person-focused pay systems generally employ no fewer than ________ employees.

150

Which of the following is a reason many European and Pacific Rim employees are better skilled and able to work more productively than American workers? A) Both European and Pacific Rim economies provide a higher quality of academic preparation and workplace learning for the non-college portions of their work forces. B) Partnerships between public educators and employers are much stronger in the United States. C) Learning is accorded a higher standing in the operations of the U.S. economy than in the European and Pacific Rim economies. D) Americans do not have equal access to educational opportunities.

Both European and Pacific Rim economies provide a higher quality of academic preparation and workplace learning for the non-college portions of their work forces.

A ________ model specifies and defines all the knowledge and skills necessary for success in a group of jobs that are set within an industry context.

Competency

Which compensation approach refers to three types of person-focused pay programs?

Competency based

Manufacturing companies that use assembly lines where one employee's job depends on the work of at least one other employee can be described as which of the following settings?

Continuous process

James, who is a clerical employee of a university, has been trained to perform several kinds of record-keeping tasks. He maintains employee attendance records, schedules salespeople's work shifts, and monitors the use of office supplies for reordering. Which type of knowledge is necessary to perform all three of these tasks?

Depth

________ of skills is the level of expertise or specialization an employee brings to a job.

Depth

This term refers to the level of specialization or expertise an employee possesses in a particular job.

Depth of skills

Person-focused pay programs that emphasize vertical skills work well at manufacturing companies that organize work flow around which type of organization?

High performance work teams

When a filing clerk is trained to maintain employee attendance records, it is an example of acquiring which type of skills?

Horizontal

________ skills refer to similar skills or knowledge.

Horizontal

Which of the following is a characteristic of job-based pay? A) It compensates employees for the number of jobs in which they possess the skills to perform. B) It rewards employees on their promise to make positive contributions to the work place. C) It compensates employees for the jobs they currently perform. D) A reward is based on the successful acquisition of work-related skills or knowledge.

It compensates employees for the jobs they currently perform.

Which pay plan generally rewards employees for meeting work objectives?

Job based

This type of pay program rewards employees for successfully learning specific curricula.

Pay for knowledge

This type of pay system rewards employees for successfully acquiring new job-related knowledge.

Person focused pay

What are the two most important reasons for adopting person-focused pay?

Person-focused pay programs, Person-focused pay systems

In this team, members learn scheduling, coordinating, training, leadership. Which of the following describes this type of work team?

Self regulating

Both unions and contractors, who employ carpenters, use ________ pay plans.

Skill based

Which of the following pay systems is used by unions and contractors to reward their carpenters for increasing carpentry abilities?

Skill based pay

This is considered "at the heart" of person-focused pay programs.

Training

Employees would need to learn these types of skills in order to develop self-managed work teams.

Vertical

________ skills are those skills typically considered supervisory.

Vertical

A company that designs, manufactures, and sells only Halloween costumes would probably benefit most from this model.

cross departmental

This model is geared to promoting staffing flexibility in a company by training employees in one area of the company with some of the critical skills that are needed to perform effectively in another area of the company.

cross departmental

This type of person-focused pay plan can result in lending an employee from one area in the company to other areas.

cross departmental

Employees who take advantage of person-focused pay program opportunities may experience which of the following? A) difficulty in finding employment elsewhere because person-focused pay programs are always firm specific B) higher likelihood of being laid off during periods of business slowdown C) higher likelihood of remaining employed during periods of business slowdown D) feelings of inequity

higher likelihood of remaining employed during periods of business slowdown

Evidence suggests that person-focused pay programs lead to which of the following? A) diminished employee commitment B) no significant change in employee satisfaction C) increased employee commitment D) higher competitive advantage

increased employee commitment

Which type of pay program applies to an organization-wide context because employees earn base pay rates for the jobs they perform?

job based

________ pay compensates employees for the work they currently perform.

job based

This term reflects an approach to job design that results in the development of more intrinsically motivating and interesting work.

job enrichment

________ refers to a job design approach that creates more intrinsically motivating and interesting work environments.

job enrichment

A ________ plan encourages employees to develop skills and learn to perform jobs from different job families.

job point accrual

Which pay model promotes learning and skills development for a wide variety of jobs from different job families?

job point accrual

Which of the following costs is NOT associated with the use of person-focused pay programs? A) payroll B) overhead C) training D) recruitment

recruitment

Wei is the HR manager of a manufacturing facility that has used the cross-departmental system and has noticed that absenteeism rates have been significantly lower since implementing this system. As a result, Wei may tell the managers that the company is able to do which of the following? A) award pay increases to those whose absenteeism is low B) increase the size of the workforce C) increase the size of the training budget D) reduce the size of the workforce

reduce the size of the workforce

competency

refers to an individual's capability to orchestrate and apply combinations of knowledge and skills consistently over time and to perform work successfully in required work situations.

Which person-focused model links pay levels to increased knowledge and skills within the same general job category?

skill blocks

In the garment factory of the XYZ Co., line workers are trained to work at different manufacturing steps such as grading, cutting, sewing and assembling, pressing, etc. XYZ Co.'s strategy of training is an example of which of the following?

skill variety

Jamie earned a raise in pay when he finished the training for the Technician 2 position. He will receive another raise when he finishes the training for the Technician 3 position. The company is probably using which type of model?

stair step

Which of the following are the two main reasons given for adopting person-focused programs? A) smaller labor markets and strategic outlines B) market monopolies and lower labor costs C) technological innovations and increased global competition D) market monopolies and company turnover

technological innovations and increased global competition

Which one of the following would be correct regarding person-focused pay programs? A) the skill blocks model only emphasizes horizontal skills B) the stair-step model addresses depth, while the skill blocks model emphasizes both horizontal and vertical skills C) employees do not progress to more complex jobs in the stair-step model D) competency models do not apply to jobs within the same family

the stair-step model addresses depth, while the skill blocks model emphasizes both horizontal and vertical skills

Person-focused pay programs depend, in large part, on well-designed ________ programs.

training